Foster Wheeler achieves Iraq crude oil milestone

Zug (Switzerland), February 23, 2012

This is a significant step towards Iraq's planned increase in crude exports, said a statement from the company.

This first phase of the expansion is intended to increase the country's crude oil export capacity by 1.8 million barrels per day (MMBPD) of additional production, it stated.

A further increase of another 1.8 MMBPD in Iraq's export capacity is intended to be delivered on completion of phase 2 of the expansion.

Achievement of this milestone represents the start of the final commissioning activities leading to readiness of the facilities to load first oil cargo onto a tanker for export, it added.

Foster Wheeler had executed the front-end engineering design for the two-phase capacity increase and is currently the project management consultant (PMC) for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of both phases of the project.

South Oil Company, a company under the Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq, with Foster Wheeler's assistance, purchased long-lead items and free-issued these to the EPC contractors in order to assure the schedule.

'We are proud to play a key role in realizing Iraq's development vision,' said Umberto della Sala, chief operating officer of Foster Wheeler.

'We have established an excellent working relationship with South Oil Company and Iraq's Ministry of Oil, and this teamwork has been a key success factor in achieving this 'first oil ready for start-up' milestone,' he noted.

'We have been executing projects in Iraq since the 1930s and we believe that this latest success demonstrates that we are committed to working, together with our clients in Iraq, to deliver project execution excellence,' he added.

SOC director general Dheyaa Jaafar Hyjam said: 'This is a truly wonderful achievement by all the parties involved, and forms the first of many steps that would see Iraq's export capacity rising to restore Iraq to its rightful place as a world-class oil producer.'-TradeArabia News Service